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Pope Benedict XVI wearing his signature red leather shoes made by an Italian artisan as he arrives for his weekly general audience in the Paul VI hall at the Vatican in 2007. (CNS photo/Reuters)

VATICAN CITY — In a unique effort to help promote Christian unity, the pope’s shoemaker has made the same pair of shoes for both Pope Benedict XVI and Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill of Moscow.

Italian cobbler Adriano Stefanelli fashioned a pair of white satin shoes for the pope and the same exact style in black for the head of the Russian Orthodox Church.

“It’s a small sign for strengthening the desire for Christian unity,” he told the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano, Aug. 25.

He said he’s done this before: making similar pairs for the pope and Ecumenical Orthodox Patriarch Bartholomew of Constantinople as well as for the late Russian Orthodox Patriarch Alexy II.

While he mailed Patriarch Kirill his pair, Stefanelli — who’s from Novara in northern Italy — personally presented the pope with his new shoes at the end of today’s general audience at the papal summer residence in Castel Gandolfo.